Jewish Family Sues Japanese Insurance Firm Over Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’

The family expanded on the firm’s acquisition of the masterpiece saying: “Sompo Holdings wrongfully has employed the painting to reap billions of dollars of unjust enrichment through a sophisticated branding strategy” and that the “defendants have commercially exploited as a corporate emblem what they long have all but known was a Nazi-tainted artwork.”

In response to the lawsuit Sompo Holdings has stated to AFP that it “categorically rejects the complaint’s allegations of wrongdoing” and “intends to vigorously defend its ownership rights in ‘Sunflowers’.”

Exhibited in the Sompo’s art museum in Tokyo for 35 years, the famous painting was purchased by the insurance company at Christie's in London.

In a previous lawsuit, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s descendants were returned a Picasso artwork titled “Head of a Woman” in 2020. The 1903 drawing was purchased by Washington DC’s National Gallery of Art in 2001.

Paul von Mendelsohn-Bartholdy was ousted from the German Banking Association in 1933 and sold his paintings in 1934, as the Nazis came to power and his economic situation worsened due to restrictions on Jewish businessmen.

“This distinctive artwork is both a poignant reminder of the enormous impact that Nazi policies had upon the contents of many private and public art collections today, as well as the Mendelssohn family’s tragic history in Nazi Germany.” Julius Schoeps, Director of the Moses Mendelssohn Centre for European Jewish Studies told the Washington Post.